3/26/2020 football Edit

LISTEN: "Everything is on the Table" regarding the 2020 SBC football season

Luke Matheson • RedWolfReport

Publisher

Sun Belt Conference commissioner Keith Gill held a media teleconference Thursday to address the state of the conference, where he stated that “everything is on the table” in regards to the 2020 football season.

All organized athletic activities have been canceled for conference schools due to the COVID-19 situation. The cancelations affected spring football, baseball, track and field, the Sun Belt basketball tournaments, in addition to the NCAA basketball tournament.

Gill said that if the COVID-19 shutdown is lifted at some point this summer, it’s possible fall training camp could be expanded in order to make up for time lost this spring.

“That’s why we’re going to work with our coaches to get a sense of what they think, with the healthcare professionals to make sure we have to right acclimatization period,” Gill said. “We’re going to be looking at models to figure out what makes the most sense, just to make sure we get it right. That being said, we still don’t know how this pandemic will run its course. We’ve got to have contingencies in place until we know whether we can open on the right day or do we have to delay? There are all different types of options to consider. The football question is an open question.”

Arkansas State suspended spring sports on March 12.

“We have been in communication with the Sun Belt Conference, my AD colleagues and our CEOs in order to take appropriate measures to ensure the well-being of our student-athletes, coaches, staff and fans during this time,” said A-State Athletics Director Terry Mohajir. “This is obviously a very fluid situation, so we will continue to consult with the appropriate authorities in order to take the best course of action moving forward.”

While some schools were not able to get any spring football reps in, Arkansas State was able to get 11 of their 15 practices in before the Sun Belt Conference and NCAA shut down spring athletics.

One worry that Gill had is the unknown regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. There is the possibility that the virus could continue through the summer. Due to this, there are several options on the table for the conference, to include starting the season later than normal with a start date in September, to a plan that includes playing only conference games, and a plan to cancel the entire season.

“We’ve started that discussion already. We’ve begun talking about concepts. We’re about to survey our football coaches. And we’ve talked to our COVID-19 Advisory Panel, so that we can begin to put together some return-to-play protocol,” said Gill. “As we think about it and try to model it, we need to look at all the contingencies — whether that’s ‘everything starts on time - to a shortened season, to no season. I really think the range of possibilities certainly exists, and will all be things we’re thinking through. At the end of the day, there needs to be a national solution. We’ll come up with ideas individually, but then we’ll all come together as FBS conferences and decide what makes the most sense as to when we start playing football.”

NCAA members are expected to vote Monday on a much talked-about proposal to give an additional year of eligibility to spring sports athletes who have been affected by the spring cancellations. Gill said Sun Belt members will decide on the conference’s official stance before Monday’s vote, including how much and for how long roster-limit and scholarship-limit rules would have to be relaxed.

“As a general rule, I think our conference is in a position where I think we’re going to try to provide some relief in that department,” said Gill. “Those students have been through a lot, and trying to provide them with an opportunity to be as ‘whole’ as they can with regards to their competition opportunities is something we are generally supportive of. Financially, we’re all trying to figure out what this all looks like. There certainly will be some hard decisions that we’ll have to make, but in terms of being supportive of our student-athletes, we’ll try to do everything we can to help them.

“I think they definitely will have to increase the team limits in spring sports. If that’s for one year, two years, three years, I’m not sure. But certainly over the next year, you would have to see some team limit increases to make all that work. Those things go hand-in-hand with eligibility, if you’re going to allow those students to come back and compete for another year.”

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